


You're Safe like Springtime

by theycallmemonchaton



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Dogs, M/M, and then turned into andrew getting a therapy dog and actually lets her help and helps others, andrew and neil get a dog, references to injury and scars but not graphic, this started as a goofy 'what if neil grabbed a dog' idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 01:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16108415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theycallmemonchaton/pseuds/theycallmemonchaton
Summary: "Neil knew he was being followed approximately 24 minutes into his midday run."////In which a dog rescues Neil, or Neil rescues a dog, but in the end, Andrew ends up with someone to protect him for a change./Title from Troye Sivan's Lucky Strike/





	You're Safe like Springtime

**Author's Note:**

> As someone who trains guide dogs and helps with therapy dogs, the idea of Andrew and Neil getting a therapy dog was always interesting to me, so i decided to write a thing. Andrew is always picking up people to protect, and for a change, i thought it would be nice if there was someone to protect him (besides neil, of course, but some days, it's better to not be around people, and dogs really help)

Neil knew he was being followed approximately 24 minutes into his midday run. The blonde woman poorly disguising herself as a suburban jogger mom with a ponytail, hat, and matching tracksuit had remained a careful twenty feet behind him longer than coincidence, but what really sealed the deal was her partner, the man who had been jogging about ten feet behind Jogger Mom. The park was full of so many jogging paths that Neil knew two people keeping his pace and following his trail couldn't just be a coincidence.

The problem was he didn't know who they were from. He'd been keeping up with his payments to Ichirou, so unless he wanted to get rid of one of his most valuable assets, there was no reason to believe he was behind the attack. Stuart was attempting to actually connect with Neil recently, as in form familial connections, so that didn't make sense either. The only one left was a straggler left behind from his father's empire. Stuart promised to take care of them, but that was a task akin to removing the sand from a beach. Nathan Wesninski had innumerable amounts of henchmen and thrice the amount of enemies. Which meant they were all stuck hating Neil.

"Some people just don't get the memo," Neil muttered to himself, taking a sharp turn down a new path. He had all the park paths memorized, but he found himself taking the same one almost daily, which meant if these people were as good as the people who came before them, they would know exactly where he was headed. So he diverged.

He plunged through the trees, picking up his pace. Jogger Mom swore, running after him, shouting to her partner. His suspicions had been right. Neill tore through the terrain, switching directions seemingly randomly, but he knew exactly where he was going.

In the corner of his brain that wasn't screaming _RUN_ in his mother's voice, he tried to figure out where Andrew was. It was around 1 which meant he was probably getting home from the gym about now. Neil would not lead these two would-be-assassins to his house, one of the few remaining safe places he had left. Andrew. He would not lead them to Andrew.

He could already picture Andrew's reaction to the situation. He was stupid for not bringing his phone. But if he had, they probably would've tracked it anyway, so maybe it was a good thing. Neil cut down another path and was suddenly spit out onto a busy street. Immediately, he stopped running and controlled his breathing. He tried to blend with the people streaming down the sidewalk, trying to melt into the hustle and bustle of the city. Jogger Mom and Partner skidded to a stop on the sidewalk behind him, breathing heavily. Partner swore again and spoke into an earpiece. So they did have more backup. No doubt waiting for the signal to move in and grab Neil while he was in the park.

As Neil passed by a tourist kiosk, he quickly snatched a hat and pair of sunglasses off a rack while the store owner was busy haggling with a customer and yanked a shirt off a hook without looking at the sizing. As he walked, he pulled the shirt on, it was too big, but it would throw the would-be kidnappers off. Next, he slid the sunglasses on and pulled the cap down low.

He could still hear Jogger Mom and Partner behind him. They probably didn't see him, but this street was easy to follow, so if he didn't step up, things would suddenly get a lot harder.

His salvation came in the form of a small noise from a scummy alley he was passing by. Peering down, Neil noticed a red leash leading into a large, taped shut cardboard box. Quickly, glancing over his shoulder, he crouched and nudged the box a little. The weight inside shifted, and then again when he had pulled his hand back. Whatever was in that box was alive.

Yanking back the tape, while still being hyper-conscious of his surroundings, Neil opened the box. Before it was fully open, the thing inside burst forward. Neil braced himself to jump back, but instead, the dog scrambled out of the box and sat in front of him, tail wagging on the ground. She seemed to grin at him slightly.

Neil's limited knowledge of dogs told him three things: one, she was still young, with the gangly look of a puppy, two, she looked like a lab, but different. The best way Neil could describe it was more boxy. And three, wherever she came from hadn't been a healthy environment. But he didn't really need dog knowledge for that. For starters, she had been taped inside a box in an alley, and second, a large, wicked looking cut ran down the left side of her face, her left eye was sealed shut, Neil wasn’t even sure there was an eye left, but there was too much blood and…  _crust_ for him to check. Also, he was on a time crunch. Jogger Mom and Partner were probably almost on top of him by this time.

The cut didn't take away from her friendly looking face and she seemed to like Neil enough, judging from the wagging tail, so he made a decision quickly.

"You help me and I'll help you, ok?" He asked the dog, picking up the leash. The dog smiled up at him and he couldn't help but smile back. 

Pulling the cap lower on his face, Neil stepped out of the alley and immediately almost froze. Jogger Mom and Partner were about five feet away from him, back facing him, looking across the street. Quickly, but without rushing, Neil steered himself and the dog away from Jogger Mom. The best way to get away from them would be to get behind them. And lucky for him, they were looking for the son of a serial killer, not some badly dressed millennial walking his dog. And Jogger Mom wouldn't be looking for small details, she'd be rushed and possibly frantic after losing him. They wouldn't have expected him to change so quickly.

"I think I see him!" Jogger Mom hissed and Neil spun himself around and pretended to contemplate which magazine he should buy.

He was almost sure he was in the clear when a voice next to him said, "Nice dog." Neil peered out of the side of his sunglasses and felt his insides turn to ice when he saw Partner standing there. He nodded and mumbled thank you. Partner grabbed and paid for two bottles of water before chasing after Jogger Mom. Neil watched them disappear into the throngs of city goers and let out a breath.

"You're a miracle," he muttered down at the dog.

Half an hour later, he was unlocking the door to his apartment, dog in toe. Andrew didn't look up from his place on the couch, a tub of ice cream opened next to him with a spoon sticking out.

"You're late," Andrew said. Neil nodded, dumping his keys into the dish.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"You left your phone at home, dumbass," Andrew continued, finally looking up. Whatever he was going to say next died in his throat as soon as he saw the dog sitting at Neil's feet.

"What the fuck is that?" He deadpanned. Neil wrinkled his brow.

"She is a dog. And she's been very helpful, so I think I owe her a favor." Andrew looked at him incredulously.

"I think you need to start at the beginning."

After moving to the couch, Neil recounted the day's events to Andrew, whose face didn't betray the slightest hint as to what he was feeling.

"Did they touch you?" Andrew asked.

"They didn't even notice me after I got the dog," he said.

"That's not what I asked," Andrew stated, deadly calm. Neil looked him in the eyes.

"No. They did not touch me. And you can thank the dog for that."

"I think I can thank them for being incompetent kidnappers," Andrew retorted, still looking at dog disdainfully. She smiled at him with one eye.

"Andrew, we're safe." Neil could see the emotions hiding behind Andrew's eyes.

"Sure. Safe like springtime." He responded. Just like Spring, safety was a fleeting concept, never lasting forever. Bright and sunny weather during the Spring could change at the drop of a hat to biting winds and gray clouds.

"But we're safe now." Neil stared directly into Andrew's eyes.

Andrew tore his gaze away first and looked down at the dog. "What the fuck happened to her?" He asked, grabbing her face, albeit gently, to inspect the damage.

"I don't know," Neil said. "I found her in a box. I don't even know what breed she is, let alone her name."

"She's a lab-pit mix," Andrew supplied. Sometimes Neil wondered just how many things Andrew had memorized in his brain, other times, he didn't want to know.

"I figured I at least owed her a visit to the vet, to look at her eye," Neil supplied. Andrew cut him a look.

"I distinctly remember you saying something similar about the cats. And now we have two."

"But you like those two," Neil countered. "Plus, the dog really helped me out. I'd probably still be trying to lose them. She really added to the disguise." Andrew gave him a dead stare and Neil smiled. They both knew he was grasping at straws. "So are you coming with us or not?"

Andrew wouldn't let the dog in his car, so they had to take Neil's car. The good news: the vet said she would keep the eye. The damage was just on her face, but with the right antibiotics, the infection would die and she would be fine, aside from scarring.

"She'll fit right in with us," Neil joked sardonically.

More good-ish news: she wasn't microchipped and didn't fit the description of any missing dogs. That, paired with the fact she was found abandoned meant that she was adoptable. Once the vet tech told them this, Neil looked at Andrew hopefully.

"What do you think?" Neil asked. Andrew just rolled his eyes. "It'll be nice for the cats to have a new friend, and I'm sure she'd be great at watching the apartment while we have practice." Andrew sighed.

"Fine. But if she doesn't get along with the cats, she's gone." Andrew almost needed sunglasses after Neil beamed at him. The vet tech left for a moment to get the proper paperwork and medicine and Andrew looked between the dog and Neil.

"437%," he said. Neil smiled softly.

"Was that for the dog or me?" He joked. Andrew shoved him lightly.

"This means a lot, Andrew," Neil said. "She really helped me out today."

"Shut up," Andrew said. "This whole day was just a lucky strike." As soon as he said that, he regretted it.

"That's her name!"

"What?"

"Lucky strike!" Andrew felt his stomach roll.

"We are not having a dog named Lucky, like every single suburban family in the country," he said.

"Fine. We'll call her Strike then," Neil said, undeterred. Andrew could see there was no stopping him now.

"Fine. Her name is Strike."

The vet tech returned with the papers and Neil got to work signing and filling out information.

"You know, when she's all healed, this dog would be an excellent emotional support dog," she said to Andrew. He looked at her with bored eyes.

"What?"

"It's just… I volunteer with training emotional support dogs, for trauma victims or people with PTSD, and this dog shows excellent traits. If you want, I can give you a trainer's number?" She looked a little intimidated by Andrew, so Neil had to give her props for speaking to him.

"What do they do?" Andrew asked. His interest surprised Neil.

"Well," the vet tech was gaining confidence. "Usually they just help their specific person, but it isn't uncommon for that person to also take the dog to hospitals. Or, if you reach out to the right people and get the right certifications, you can bring her to meetings with children, like court hearings or meetings with foster families."

Andrew nodded. "I'll take the card."

Honestly, Neil didn't expect Andrew to take the emotional support dog thing very far. But after a few months, he was proven wrong. Andrew went to all the classes with Strike and taught everything to Neil when he got home so he would know too.

The vet tech was right about Strike. She was amazing at reading people's emotions, especially Andrew's, whom she had gotten particularly attached to, despite Andrew still pretending he didn't like her very much. Once, on one of Andrew's bad days, when Neil was giving him as much space as possible, he noticed Andrew staring at a blank wall, Strike's head on his lap, his hand gently fondling her ears.

At that moment, Neil felt so much love in his heart for both the man he loved and the dog they saved and who had saved him.

Andrew began to take Strike everywhere. As an emotional support dog, she was legally allowed anywhere, but Andrew didn't just stop at taking her to stores and a couple practices. He talked with Bee and she connected him with people got him into courts with children, often victims of abuse. Having a man who could easily bench whoever scared them and a dog to offer support next to them often gave them the strength to testify.

On slow nights, when there wasn't practice or a game, Neil, Andrew, Sir and King, and Strike all sat together, watching old exy tapes and Neil felt like his family was more complete than it had ever been before. 

~~~~

 

 

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**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i kinda want to write a follow up (just like domesticity with the dog) so lmk if anyone is interested
> 
> xoxo  
> -maya <3


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